NUFORC UFO Sighting 88653
Occurred: 2012-03-21 19:30 Local - Approximate
Reported: 2012-04-25 13:02 Pacific
Duration: seconds
No of observers: 1

Location: De Kalb, NY, USA

Shape: Unknown
Characteristics: Lights on object, Emitted beams, Changed Colo

Brilliant green spear of light which changed to yellow/orange then extinguished

I had stepped out onto the front deck of my farm house to retrieve a loaf of bread from a plastic tote on the deck. Two of my dogs were sitting together looking skyward so I turned my gaze in the direction they were looking. As I turned I observed a brilliant tree leaf green strobe of light emitting from an object of in-determinant size and shape because of the intensity of the light. The light did not appear as search light type of projection but more as a neon sign, contained into a shape similar to the blade of a Roman sword. The light did not appear to look as an after-burner/reheat exhaust flame would look. I had 10 years active duty USAF with 4-5 years of them engaged in flight operations of after-burning aircraft a couple of which included arming aircraft in the hammer-heads or taxiways prior to launch; thereby enabling observation of A-B operation at distances as close as 50 feet. The green light suddenly changed to a yellow/orange color while! maintaining what appeared to be the same structure and size that the green light had. At the base of the lights, where a darker object appeared to be located, there were smaller spears of light with a shape similar to the larger spear/sword sort of as the leaves at the base of a flower. As suddenly as the light had changed from green to yellow/orange the yellow light went out and I thought I heard a faint humming sound. I strained to see any solid object where the lights had been but saw nothing against the dark and overcast sky.

As it was an overcast evening with a fairly solid cloud layer at what I would estimate at perhaps 2-3000 feet and the lights were about 20-30 degrees above the horizon and appeared to be well below the cloud layer I would estimate the hypotenuse distance from where I stood to have been 2-3000 feet. After the light extinguished I remained on the front deck listening and peering into the darkness for 4-5 minutes. I heard a low hum similar to what a small reciprocating engine aircraft might sound at a considerable distance. It is possible that a light aircraft was passing over above the cloud layer that I could not see and I simply assumed the sound I was hearing was coming from the object. Had it not been for the brilliant light spear/sword I might have chalked the incident up to a light aircraft observation.




NUFORC Note:

Witness indicates that date of sighting is approximate. PD


Posted 2012-05-13

NUFORC UFO Sighting 35258
Occurred: 2003-09-30 19:30 Local - Approximate
Reported: 2004-02-24 18:13 Pacific
Duration: 3 hours
No of observers: 3

Location: De Kalb, NY, USA

Shape: Fireball
Characteristics: Left a trail, Aircraft nearby

Multiple orange balls drifting slowly downward apparently over Fort Drum, NY

I was driving to my farm from Ogdensburg, NY travelling South East on Rt. 812 about 5 miles from De Kalb at about 19:30 when an orange ball suddenly illuminated directly front of me and just as suddenly winked out after a few seconds. About 2 miles father along it, or another, reappeared and a second appeared along side it and after about 30 seconds they winked out one at a time. Within a couple of minutes I turned right onto COR17 and then left onto the road my farm is located on which runs South West probably a bit more south so SSW. As I cleared the hill at the beginning of the road another pair of orange balls were visible which also winked out again within 30-45 seconds. I arrived at the farm about 19:50 and as the dogs and I exited the truck 2 or 3 orange balls illuminated to the SE in the direction of Fort Drum, NY. These stayed illuminated for some time and I was now looking at them through a pair of 7X50 and 12X50 binoculars. Even with he binoculars they looked round and I could see the lights of what I assumed were helicopters near them. About 20:20 or thereabouts I called my neighbor and asked him to look in the direction of Fort Drum and tell me what he saw. At first he said he didn't see anything but then I heard his wife say that she could see them and she redirected his gaze so that he also was seeing them. The balls of orange were now staying illuminated for a considerable time, 10 to 15 minutes. I called a friend of mine who lives in Governeur, NY and asked her if she could see them, she could not. I talked to her for quite a while telling her when they were illuminated and when they were not but she never saw them. The orange balls appeared to drift slowly downward very slowly. While looking at them with my high powered binoculars it appeared to me that I could see a vertical smoke trail above them. I re-called my neighbors who had seen them and asked it they could see the apparent smoke trails; they also saw them. We then decided that they were some sort! of flares that the Army was dropping. I watched them on and off until about 22:30 when they winked out for good. As I recall it was a clear night and the moon came out full or nearly so.

The apparent size of the balls was such that it would have taken 4 or 5 to cross the moon. The apparent brightness was about the same as the moon.

Today whilst I was perusing your files I came across the report by the young man from Parishville, NY who saw similar orange balls over Drum in mid Sept 2003. I started reconsidering what I had observed and although they may well have been some type of flare I could see no parachute canopy. The apparent smoke trail was vertical which had there been a canopy above the flare one would expect that the smoke would have been dispersed or disturbed somewhat. I have had experience with USAF ground illumination flares; they were not orange, they were the brilliant white of burning magnesium. With all of the night vision optics used by the military today I would not expect them to be using flares. I spent 10 years active duty in the USAF 2 of them as a weapons mechanic 2 in college and 6 as a an Astro/Aero Engineer working space track radar for a year and 5 years as a flight test instrumentation Engineer. After leaving the USAF I worked for a pyrotechnics company for a couple of years then as an Electronic Engineer for the Navy, Air Force and finally the Army from which I retired in 1995 as a DoD civilian.



NUFORC Note:

We are grateful to the witness for his submitting such a thorough report. We have invited him to attempt to perform triangulation on the location of the flares, and to contact local military facilities, to determine whether they might have launched flares on this date. PD


Posted 2004-03-02